Breaking Through
by Kara KATAD
Summary: A post-Eclipse story. Bella and Edward have finally decided to make their engagement official. What obstacles will come in their way? What happened to Jacob? Will Bella finally become a vampire? Answers found here. Still in progress. Reviews appreciated.
1. Wedding Plans

**Disclaimer: **I don't own twilight or these characters. All property of Stephenie Meyer.

* * *

_I could see nothing but darkness. The moon was high in the sky, but the treetops were barely visible. _

_Out of nowhere I saw a shadowy figure rapidly making its way around the forest below, and I realized that I was standing on a cliff, in La Push. Although the figure was beyond all recognition, I _knew_ who it was. The only question was, why?_

I woke up in my bed screaming out Jacob's name and reflexively buried my head in my pillow. I felt a cold hand touch my back to comfort me. A velvet clear voice asking me, "Are you alright, Bella love?"

I answered shakily, "I'm fine, I just had a nightmare." Edward pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. I looked at my wall clock and noticed that it was twelve noon. Immediately, I shot up in my bed and ran towards the closet. "Oh my gosh! It's lunchtime! I've got to get to school! Edward!! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

Edward laughed softly like bells chiming and looked at me with his golden eyes, "Bella, it's summer, you graduated last week, so there's no need to get up early. "He said and walked towards me," Unless you had any plans for today?"

My breathing slowly went back to normal and all the events that had occurred in the last two weeks flew through my mind. The graduation, the after party at the Cullen's', the truce between the vampires and the werewolves, Victoria being decapitated and dismembered in front of me, Jacob getting horribly hurt and the engagement.

I shuddered,_the engagement_, making it official that Edward and I belonged to each other for eternity. I sighed and the memory of last night filled my mind.

* * *

"Dad?" I called out into the room looking for him, while wishing, secretly, that he would not be there. No, he would have to hear this now. Now or never.

"Yes Bells?" He said from the couch in the living room. The news was on, the game seemed to have ended by then.

"I, uh, we have to tell you something to tell you" We walked towards my father, hand in hand, and I could feel the blood rushing towards my face as I tried to control it.

Charlie watched us warily and turned off the TV. Because our hands were intertwined, did not notice the ring on my finger. I breathed in and prepared for what just might be the scariest moment of my life -- which would end soon.

"Dad," I said as I sat down in the chair facing him, "Edward and I... We've made... It's been a long time since we've met... and--" I stuttered through my words, and wished I had prepared something beforehand.

"Charlie," Edward intervened, much to my appreciation, "I love your daughter very much, so much that I cannot even think of spending another moment without her here with me."

"And I love you too, Edward." I whispered.

Edward looked at me with his beautiful topaz eyes and continued, "And I asked for her hand in marriage. We would like to ask for your blessing for our union."

Charlie listened to Edward carefully, and although his face changed hue every so often, he sighed and calmed down. He looked at us with an expression that I couldn't understand, but only hoped it was approval. "I knew this day would come, maybe not this soon, but eventually." He looked down at his hands and sighed. "Bella, is this really what you want? So soon?"

"Yes, it is. Dad, I really hope you understand." I said, pleading with him.

He took it in and contemplated for a moment, then a look of tranquility was on his face. "If it will make you happy Bells, then I will give you my blessing."

I could barely comprehend what he was saying, was he really telling me this?_ My _Charlie? _Chief Swan?_ The father who almost banned Edward from stepping into the house again?I was so happy and relieved I could've screamed. Instead, I hugged my father tightly. "Thank you dad! Thank you..."

He hugged me back, "No problem dear."

Then I stood back up again, Edward wiped the tears off my face, that I hadn't even realized were there. "Thank you Charlie." Then he shook his hand.

"Well," said Charlie, taking the gesture, "I suppose you can call me dad now Edward. You are going to be my son-in-law soon." he looked slightly nervous saying that, but held his composure. "So, when is the wedding?"

"Before August thirteenth." I answered, anxious for his reaction.

He looked alarmed for a moment, "That's sooner than I expected... Two months..." he said mostly to himself.

"Alice is planning it." I said, trying to lift the mood. "She already chose the dress for me and made the invitations." I showed him the ivory and pink layered paper with the announcement, it was too much for my taste, and for a wedding in_ Forks_. But I had promised that Alice could do as she pleased, and inside I was glad to let her have her fun. It occurred to me that she would soon be my sister-in-law, which I was curious about, but she always seemed like family to me. I soon realized that _all_ the Cullens would be my in-laws and smiled.

"Really?" he said, taking the invitation and studying it carefully. "Yes, it does look like Alice's work, now doesn't it?" he chuckled. "Have you talked to Renee about this yet? I'm sure she'll want a part in this."

"Not yet..." I said softly, thinking of how to tell her.

"Alice called her this morning." Edward said reassuringly, "She didn't tell her why, but Renee is flying in by Thursday."

I was instantly grateful towards Alice. Renee would need to be talked to for a long time, but hopefully she would understand. Charlie did, and that gave me hope. Charlie looked up at Edward and said, "You'll have to promise to take care of my little Bella, I'm trusting you with her for..." he swallowed, "the rest of your life."

"Of course." Edward assured him, putting his arm around my shoulders and kissing my cheek. "I'm going to make sure she's safe for all eternity. You have my word.

* * *

The flashback ended and I looked in front of me to see Edward watching me. I noticed then that I had been standing still staring at the floor for more than just a bit of time and smiled at him. "I love you." I said as I tiptoed to kiss him.

He kissed me back softly and I felt his cold lips brush against mine. "I love you too. More than you can imagine"

"I need a human minute." I told him, and headed down the hall to the bathroom to shower and change. I came back to see him in new clothes as well. I was dressed in the clothes Alice had gotten me, as the clothes that had been taken before were never retrieved, not that I expected them to be.

"Are you ready to leave?" he asked me, standing up from the rocking chair at the back of the room.

"Where are we going?" I asked him, grabbing my bag.

"You honestly don't know?" he chuckled and took my hand. "We're going to visit the wedding planner."

I sighed and followed him outside. We got into his Volvo and sped over to the house. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to do something about your truck?"

I looked at him with pretend-anger "How dare you say that!" he looked at me with his puppy dog eyes and I almost forgot to breathe again. "But if you insist." He smiled and stopped the car.

"Welcome home." he said and opened the door for me before I could move much.

The Cullen's house felt more homey now that Edward had said that. And I spun around the yard taking in the detail. Edward laughed and caught me, "What are you doing, Bella?"

I sighed blissfully "Making myself at home." He smiled and kissed me on the forehead. Then he led me inside to find the whole Cullen family waiting for us.

"Welcome back Bella!" They said together, and Alice came up to me and pulled me softly towards the couch. "It's about time you came!" she said while handing me a plate of ravioli, "You haven't eaten yet, we thought you'd be hungry."

I looked at the glass plate and felt the hunger. "Thanks." I poked the little packages of pasta curiously and popped one in my mouth. Yummy.

"So, here are the plans for the wedding." Alice got a large poster-sized paper and illustrated the seating arrangement, the decorations, the bakery...

"Woah, Alice, don't you think this is a little bit much?" I looked in disbelief at the plans she was showing me. Is this really _my_ wedding she's talking about?

Alice's face fell a little. "But you told me I could do what I wanted..."

"No, no, that's not what I meant." I tried to make up for it, "I was just wondering. It's wonderful, really." I smiled as best I could.

Alice brightened up and continued, "I think we should seat the werewolves here, far away from us."

"Werewolves?" I looked at Edward, "You invited Jacob?"

"Well, I would have wanted the choice as well, if I were him. I thought it was only fair. Did you not want me to?" He asked, with concern in his beautiful voice.

"No, it's alright. I suppose I would have invited him anyways." I thought of my dream earlier. Did this have anything to do with it? No, I dismissed the thought. It was just a dream. I'm not Alice. I told myself.


	2. Nightmares

Note: I update chapters sometimes even after I post them. yes, I know, it's really annoying, but I'm doing my best. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy. :D If you like it, your support is appreciated. If you don't, it's okay but I'd like to know why so I can work on it. Thanks again

P.S. as of now, I'm just posting before bed so I may or may not change it. I'll decide tomorrow. Thanks again for your patience. :D

* * *

Chapter 2 – Nightmares

I woke up with a start again. The same nightmare again, running through the forest. What was with this dream? It didn't make sense to me, I was fine with Jacob. Edward was out hunting today, and Alice wasn't supposed to come until eleven so I headed downstairs to eat breakfast.

"Good morning Bells!" Called Charlie when he heard me on the stairs. "Look!" he said and motioned towards some pancakes on the counter, covered with maple syrup and a dab of butter.

"Wow dad!" I said, looking at the breakfast food suspiciously. "How'd you make them?"

"Err… I… uhm…" He looked around nervously and then smiled. "Okay, you caught me."

At that exact moment, I felt someone grab me from behind to try to scare me. But after so long with Edward and the rest of the Cullens, I wasn't surprised so easily… until I turned around.

"Mom!" I hugged Renee tightly. "You're here already!"

She hugged me back, "I managed to come early. So, what is it that you wanted to tell me? Alice said it was something important."

"Well, I think we should wait til Edward comes back from his camping trip with his brothers." I needed him for this.

"Oh," she looked at me in her usual way, trying to read the look on my face. "This concerns him as well…" She said, not asking.

I simply smiled, "So, where did these pancakes come from? Nobody's offered up an explanation yet."

"Your mother made them." Charlie picked up the plate of food and carried it to the table. "Now, let's eat."

"So, mom, what's up in Phoenix?" I sat down and served myself a couple of maple syrup soaked pancakes.

Renee talked about her life with Phil, his job as a coach for the baseball team, and how she loves being settled down. "You can still move in with Phil and I, Bella. The invitation is still open." She looked at me.

I picked at my food and thought of how I would explain to her that I had no plans of moving over to Florida. I imagined how many cars would crash if Edward would ever be forced to step out in daylight and chuckled to myself. At that moment, I remembered Jacob. "Oh! I have to make a call, excuse me."

I dialled the number and the phone rang several times before someone picked up, "Hello?" said calm voice I identified as Sam Uley.

"Hi Sam!" I wondered why Sam was there, of all people. "Is Jacob there?"

"Oh, Bella, you haven't heard yet?" he sounded a little dark, underneath the calm. "I think we should talk. Come over to La Push as soon as you can. We'll be waiting." And the phone was hung up.

I was annoyed, but intrigued. I wondered if I had enough time to head over to the reservation... It was ten o' clock. I had an hour. I decided to take the chance, Alice would only have to wait a while if ever. "I'm going down to La Push!" I called out, grabbing my jacket and the keys.

"What about breakfast?" Renee asked. I grabbed the plate and hugged her goodbye.

I got in the truck and started it. It took three tries, I might consider getting it fixed. I headed over to La Push and parked the car outside the Blacks' Residence. All the while, pondering on what might be so important as to call me here. I got out and knocked on the wooden door, and found Sam Uley on the other side of the frame. "Come in, Bella."

I got inside to find the whole pack, excluding Jacob, gathered on the couch that was much to small for them. "So what is it that I don't know yet?" I asked, doing my best to keep the impatience out of my tone.

"Have a seat first." Sam motioned towards a woven chair near me. I sat down. "Well, for the past few days, Jacob's been missing." I look at him incredulously.

"What? Missing? Why?" I spattered my words. I couldn't believe it. Where would he go?

"Actually, he ran away." Embry spoke up. "He changed into his wolf form, so we could hear his thoughts, but he ran off. And Sam didn't want us to interfere."

"I told him to come back as soon as he could." Sam looked clouded, for once. "But I heard him thinking of staying in that form, forever."

I couldn't hide the disbelief. "No! That's not the Jacob I know! He wouldn't leave!" I was shouting now, but I didn't care.

Quil tried to calm me down, "Don't worry Bella, he'll come back soon."

Leah Clearwater was in the circle too. "Ha! I don't think so." Her face was unreadable, something between remorse and sarcasm. "I was with him, before he received this." She held up the wedding invitation that Edward had sent. "And he wasn't half as angry when I was trying to talk him into getting over you. Some good that did."

I glowed at her. She seemed to be the only one who talked to him before he left and something she had said might have led him to leaving. But I couldn't focus, why would he leave? Where would he have gone? Why didn't he leave any word? I thought he said he would always be there for me, waiting. Even after I was to become a vampire. HE PROMISED! My heart started to ache again, I could feel the scar starting to open up again. It hurt badly, just after he and I made up! This can't be happening...

"Be quiet Leah!" Embry said with an angry tone, "This isn't Bella's fault! And it's if anyone should take the blame it's _you_!"

Leah was clearly hurt by this statement, but before she could think of a proper comeback, Sam intervened. "Stop it, both of you. It's nobody's fault. And Jacob _will_ come back. "

"How do you know that?!" I was distraught. I probably shouldn't have shouted, but I was worried. "He could've gone anywhere by now? Why didn't you stop him?"

"Because we trusted him, Bella. And we still do."


End file.
